The Mikado

Of "clowns of private life," Martyn Green as the Lord High Executioner signs: "I've got 'em on my list. They'd none of them be missed." An incomparable clown of public life, Green himself must certainly be misser by the D'Oyly Carte company. With Green as star, S. M. Chartock's new company can bid for the audiences which have always equated D'Oyly Carte with Gilbert and Sullivan.

Green's genius for satire and whimsy makes him a superb interpreter of Gilbert's blandly ridiculous world. His finesse with patter is legendary, and he van steal a scene with a grimace of distress or a struggle with a rebellious toe. Scurrying up the scenery and tirelessly waddling, dancing and rolling across the stage, Green makes Tittipu an enormously funny place. His performance is a remarkable blend of subtlety and furious comic energy.

Green is backed by a fine company, Robert Eccles plays the proud Pooh-Bah with corpulent pomposity, elegantly waving a fan the size of a Venetian blind. A suitably menacing Mikado, Joseph Macaulay, handles Gilbert's lyrics deftly as he gloats of his plan "to make the punishment fit the crime.

Mr. Chartock's company treats Sullivan's music with equal taste. The principals have the support of an excellent chorus and orchestra, and when Lillian Murphy applies a clear lyric soprano of Yum-Yum's "The Sum Whose Rays," music shunts patter aside with great effect. Another celebrated import from D'Oyly Carte, Ella Halman is, as usual, a formidable "Daughter in Law Elect.

Earl William's pudgy Nanki-Poo was the sole disappointment. His acting would be less embarrassing in a much poorer production, and his forceful tenor shows an occasional affection for jarring flats. Robert Rounseville, however, will sing the role this week.

Though the sets are unexciting The Mikado is colorful and well-staged, and if Mr. Chartock's Iolanthe and Pirates of Penzance maintain the standard of this production, his company will be an important addition to American repertory theatre.